The USSR And Marxist Revolutions In The Third World
Three old hands, Mark Katz, Wayne Limberg and Neil MacFarlane, provide overarching essays on the central but specific issue of Soviet support for Third World Marxist regimes. MacFarlane addresses the historic question (from 1917 to Gorbachev), Katz, the Gorbachev era, and Limberg, the matter of military support. The premise of the book is now doubtless wrong: that the past will provide important insight into how Moscow will in the future deal with Marxist regimes in the Third World. But as we round out the story of a defunct Soviet foreign policy, it is good to have succinct, broad, summary judgments on the matter.
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Although Russia has projected itself more forcefully on the world stage since the beginning of the Putin era, its foreign policy still lacks any sort of grand strategic vision. Russian leaders continue to squabble over issues from NATO expansion to the world economy. But they are particularly concerned about Russia's identity, especially with regard to the post-Soviet states. If the Bush administration fails to devise a coherent policy of its own toward its former rival, it may face serious problems down the road.
Gorbachev's new thinking is based on the belief that military power is not the only way to national security, and that there is a link between national and mutual security. The revolution in foreign policy thinking has been most profound at the level of policy concepts, and has been based on a realization that the real threat to the USSR comes from the weakening of the economy due to excessive military spending. Notes how the ideas underpinning the foreign policy revolution have existed for the last decade, and how the evidence suggests that the change is genuine.

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